Oil prices rise after US debt ceiling deal, shifting attention to OPEC meeting in Austria this week
OPEC+ in April announced a surprise cut of 1.16 million barrels per day in April, but the gains from that move have since been retraced and prices are below pre-cut levels. But signals on any fresh cut have been varied, with Reuters reporting and bank analysts indicating that further output cuts are unlikely.
Fragile M23 ceasefire fuels fears of resumption of fighting in eastern DR Congo as Kinshasa rules out talks
Rebel leaders say they are fighting because the government broke a 2013 peace accord with the group, and because local Tutsis are at risk. Yet Rwanda is widely thought to be pulling the strings, reviving the group to push its own agenda.
African diplomacy, conflict resolution experts say shared sense of community prevents war in West Africa
A key factor is that member states have mechanisms for settling disputes peacefully. In both Liberia’s and Sierra Leone’s wars, which threatened to engulf other countries in the region, ECOWAS used these settlement mechanisms. It deployed military troops to supervise ceasefires brokered by the then Ghanaian president, Jerry Rawlings.
Why Caesarean deliveries in US are higher for Black than White women, 2.2m live in maternity care deserts
President Joe Biden’s budget for fiscal year 2024 includes $471 million in funding to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity rates, expand maternal health initiatives in rural communities, and implicit bias training and other initiatives. It also requires states to provide continuous Medicaid coverage for 12 months postpartum, to eliminate gaps in health insurance. It also includes $1.9 billion in funding for women and child health programs.
In ex-US Secretary of State ‘Henry Kissinger’s killing fields’ in Cambodia media couldn’t report on the carnage
In another confidential cable sent in December 1973, Thomas Enders made a final accounting of solatium payments to those who had lost a relative in Neak Luong. They had actually not received the $400 per dead civilian that they had been promised. In the end, the US valued the dead of Neak Luong at just $218 apiece.
Newly declassified documents profile former US foreign secretary Henry Kissinger as ‘history’s bloodiest social climber’
State Department documents, declassified in 2005 but largely ignored, show that the death toll at Neak Luong may have been far worse than was publicly reported at the time, and that the real toll was purposefully withheld by the US government.
Why charities want banks and anti-money laundering agencies to rethink de-risking rules
To cope with this threat, Islamic Relief USA has seven different US bank accounts. The hope is that at least one will facilitate transfers to the fragile zones in which the organisation works. Other NGOs, such as members of the American Relief Coalition for Syria, reported delays or blocks to wire transfers impeding their ability to serve people in need.
Unhumanitarian crisis: How vague money-laundering and counter-terror protocols slow aid, hurt needy
Financial sector experts say the biggest roadblocks are caused by vague anti-money laundering and countering the finance of terrorism (AML/CFT) regulations – enforced in the US by a web of government agencies, and for which there are no viable humanitarian exemptions.
How free scoring Erling Haaland has elevated Man City market valuation to astronomical levels
There is a belief that Haaland is bringing in a new wave of younger fans, who start supporting clubs through their idols rather than any pre-existing connection. Haaland quickly became an icon at Borussia Dortmund and further cemented that in his first year here.
It’s a sigh of relief for President Biden as US debt ceiling bill passes House with broad bipartisan support
The legislation suspends – in essence, temporarily removes – the federal government’s borrowing limit through January 1, 2025. The timeline allows Biden and Congress to set aside the politically risky issue until after the November 2024 presidential election.
